


i got a feeling i could be someone

by spacershepards



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Friends to Lovers, Multi, Past Trans Pregnancy, Physical Abuse, Pining, Slow Burn, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-06
Updated: 2017-04-06
Packaged: 2018-10-15 06:23:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10551562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacershepards/pseuds/spacershepards
Summary: carolina, church, and york leave Invention, texas, for austin. what they didn't expect was for church's job at a local coffee shop to have such a big rivalry with the cafe across the street, their neighbor allison to be the spitting image of church and carolina's mom, north's... interesting group of friends, or for a record label to take interest in york.honestly? they didn't expect any of this.





	

When York finds Carolina, it's a few minutes past 1 PM, and she's shoving underwear and a few shirts into an aqua-colored dufflebag. Her hair's tied back in a ponytail, but there are loose strands – so unlike Carolina that it takes him a moment to notice the bruises on her arms.

“Lina?” he says, stepping into the room.

She doesn't look up. “I don't know _what_ he said, but _don't_ try to stop me, York.”

“What?” says York, not entirely sure what she's talking about, or why she's packing every semi-nice article of clothing she owns. “Lina, what's going on?”

“I'm done. I'm – Church and I are leaving.”

“God,” he says, running his fingers through his hair. He always does that when he's stressed. It seriously annoys her sometimes. “Why?”

Carolina whips around, and he can _immediately_ tell she's tired. There are thick dark circles beneath her eyelids, and she's not wearing earrings. He can't remember a time she wasn't wearing earrings. She rarely takes them out – at a school dance, she set a pair of her mom's earrings down, and they spent the next two and a half hours trying to find them.

Something's wrong, clearly.

He just can't tell _what_ it is.

“We... we can't stay here,” she says, her tone edging on anger. “And don't try to convince me, because you can't.”

“I wasn't going to try to – _where_ are you going to go?”

“I don't know yet,” she admits, opening her closet and grabbing a jacket. It's her snowboarding jacket – he has a few too many good memories with her wearing that jacket. She carefully folds it up and sets it on top of a pair of jeans.

“What're... what're you going to do about money?” A stupid question – she's been saving up for college for years, babysitting or walking dogs until she got a job at the local Walmart. She's probably spent less than seventy of that money over the past four years, since most of the time, her dad buys her whatever she wants.

“Church... went ahead and got the money out of our bank accounts.”

Wow. She's completely serious. “Why?”

“We can't stay here, York! Now, if you're gonna be here, the least you can do is help me pack before my dad gets home -”

“He doesn't know.”

“Of course not. Do you really think I'm stupid enough to tell him?”

His eyes keep landing on the bruises. “He hit you, didn't he? Lina... you could go to the police. You don't have to leave.”

“You should see Church,” she says, sounding awfully bitter. “He looks a _lot_ worse than I do.”

“Do you really think this is a good idea?”

“Probably not,” she says, unplugging her laptop from the wall and carefully setting it in the bag.

“What do you need me to do?” he asks, because there's no way he's going to convince her to stay.

It's been bad for a while. He's been there a few times when Leonard Church Sr. has yelled at his children, once or twice seen bruises on Church's face. He has no clue how long it's been going on, or when it started – when Carolina was younger, she seemed happy. So yeah, it's been bad for a few years.

He just didn't realize _how_ bad.

She bites her lip. Pauses. “Can you get me my toothbrush and deodorant from the bathroom?”

He nods and steps out of her room, praying she won't be gone by the time he gets back.

(She isn't, luckily. But it still worries him. She's left before without saying goodbye.)

Carolina's just standing in the center of the room, looking like she's on the verge of crying, or screaming, or hitting something. Or possibly all three – he never does know with her.

He steps towards her, holding her toothbrush carrier in one hand and her floral-smelling deodorant in the other. She grabs them from him without saying anything – he bites back a 'what, no thank you?' that she doesn't really need to hear right now.

And then, she holds out her arms a little hopelessly, and he pulls her to his chest.

“Look, Lina... you don't have to go. We could go to the police, or something.”

“I _can't_ ,” she says, her voice muffled. He can tell she's crying, soft muddled sobs, but he doesn't mind – 'course she's gonna cry. “Do you have any idea what could happen?”

“He could go to jail? I'm _pretty_ sure that's a good thing.”

She pulls away. Her eyes are already red. He wants to brush a thumb against her cheek, make her know it's going to be okay.

“My mind's already made up,” she says, and steps away.

It's a split second decision, but he's saying it before he even realizes. “I'm coming with you.”

“York!”

“Lina,” he says, trying to copy her tone. Probably doesn't work – nobody else can talk like she does. “Listen to me – you'll need a car, won't you?”

“I have a car.”

“Yeah, one that'll break down! One that's definitely not as fast as mine! It's the middle of summer and we're in Texas – what do you think's gonna happen?”

“Not _necessarily_ ,” she says, crossing her arms. “It's only broken down once – less times than I can say about _your_ car.”

He tries to wave his hand like it means nothing. “Look, Lina – you know I want outta this town just as much as you do.”

“I _don't_ think you do.”

“Look, wherever you're going...”

“I don't know where we're going, okay? We just need to get out of here!” And then she's not facing him anymore, zipping up her dufflebag.

“I have money to pitch in,” he adds, hoping that'll help.

“From working at DQ. I don't think that's _enough_.”

“It'll be enough, I _promise_. Lina, can't you trust me?”

“I do trust you,” she says. Then she pushes past him. “I just don't think it's a good idea for you to come with us.”

“Church doesn't hate me, and I -” He doesn't try to say it. “How long have we known each other?”

“Since middle school,” she says, glancing over her shoulder. Her eyes are so green that it almost kind of hurts. Both Church and their dad have the same eyes, but on Carolina, it's the most beautiful color in the world. “Since you moved here.”

“ _Yeah_ , since I showed up and _you_ took pity on me and decided we should be friends.” He still remembers when they first met, and she grabbed him by the back of his jacket so he didn't run headfirst into Jeremiah Carson. “If I haven't proven that... look, listen to me. My money, plus whatever you and Church have...”

“Yeah, and your car fucking sucks, York.”

“Okay, okay, so maybe my car's broken down three times. But I _swear_ , I'll only help.”

“York, do me a favor and shut up.”

Her eyebrows are furrowed together and she looks _pissed_. He hasn't seen her _this_ mad since... well, it's been a few weeks, at the least. She reaches over his shoulder and he expects her to slap him, but instead, she flips off the light and starts walking.

He runs after her.

“Carolina, please. Just... just _listen_ to me.”

She whips around, again. A few strands of hair get stuck in her mouth and she spits them out. “I'm _not_ your ride out of here, York!”

“I never said you were!”

“ _Why_ do you want to come so badly?”

Because he wants out of Invention, Texas. Because he hates working at the local Dairy Queen. Because he's a few months shy of going to community college. Because he doesn't want to lose her.

 _Because I love you, and I don't want to say goodbye_.

Besides...

“Because I _hate_ this fucking town,” he says, “and I have a friend in Austin, so we could stay there for a while.” North and him aren't exactly incredibly close, but if York needed a place to stay, he's sure North wouldn't mind putting him – or Lina and Church – up for a few days.

She looks like she's thinking.

Then, the door behind her swings open, and Church steps out. Carolina was right – he looks way worse than she does. He acts like he doesn't even notice York. “If we're leaving, we need to go. Now.”

“I _know_ ,” says Carolina, pressing her lips together like she's trying not to start screaming.

“What's your boyfriend doing here?”

If he isn't mistaken, her cheeks turn slightly red. “He's _not_ my boyfriend, Church.”

“Could've fooled me,” says Church, tightening his grip on his own bag.

Yeah, maybe they have a _bit_ of a history, but not anymore. Carolina made it _pretty_ clear that she didn't want anything more than friendship from him.

But that's not why he's here – he's not trying to win her over, or score a girlfriend, or whatever.

He's perfectly fine with just being friends. He never expected more than friendship in the first place.

“I want to come with you,” he says, more to Church than Carolina. She already knows what he wants, so there's no use trying to convince her.

Church frowns at him. “Do I _look_ like I care?”

“I have a friend in Austin who could us – _you_ – up for a few days.” And he has money, so it's not like he's going to try and get any from them. “I want out of this stupid town, too.”

“Who said anything about Austin?” asks Church.

“I didn't – look, I dunno where you're going. But I _can_ help.”

Carolina shakes her head. “No way.”

“I don't care if he comes. Can we just go? _Before_ Dad gets back?” Church moves his shoulder and winces. “He'll be off work in forty minutes, Lina. If you lose our fucking chance because you're arguing with York...”

“ _Fine_!” She throws her arms into the air, almost knocks a picture off the wall. _Funny_ , because it's a picture of Leonard Church Sr., an arm wrapped around a blonde woman cradling a baby, a red-haired toddler sitting on his lap.

A family portrait.

“Fine. Come if that's what you want. But don't expect us to...” She stops, wipes the back of her hand on her cheek. “ _Don't_ expect us to stay.”

She brushes past Church and heads straight for the front door. “Let's just go. We'll take my car – it has better mileage.”

“I thought we agreed we'd take mine,” groans Church.

* * *

They stop at York's so he can grab a backpack and some clothes. He takes one last look at his room, leaves a letter for his dads, makes sure to write down North's number in case they need to get a hold of him and his phone's dead.

They drive past the DQ he works at ( _worked_ at; he calls in and quits.) They drive past the high school they all went to. They drive past the football stadium, the Walmart, the park, the elementary school, the coffee shop. They drive past the _Welcome to Invention, Texas – population 14,900_ sign.

Invention might be a stupid name for a town. Invention, Texas, might be a stupid town itself.

(But it's home for quite a few people. 14,897 to be exact.)

And then they start the long drive to Austin.

They don't look back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, invention, texas is named after the mother of invention.


End file.
